The Marble Institute of America has released the newest in an ongoing series of technical bulletins for the natural stone industry.
Titled "Cement: Types and Usage with Natural Stone," the 8-page bulletin was prepared as a guide to inform designers and installers using natural stone of key characteristics of cements related to stone installation and assemblies. A second goal of the paper is to educate designers and installers regarding trends in the cement industry that can have significant impacts related to the use of natural stone.
Three trends are occurring today with cements used in natural stone applications that are of interest to designers and installers. The first is a movement toward performance based specifications for cements, mortars and grouts.
The second trend is an increase in the use of blended materials and specially formulated products for cements, mortars and grouts. The third trend underway is a movement toward providing improved sustainability with respect to the production, installation and service life of building materials.
The use of blended cements, combining recycled with finely ground siliceous (or siliceous and aluminous) materials with portland cements, will continue to increase.
Blended cements provide the opportunity to produce a material with a significant recycled material content, as well as lowering the carbon dioxide emissions associated with production of the material.
Visit the MIA website at www.mia.com for more information.
Volume rendering of a cement paste sample; original sample is less than 1mm wide.
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